Things you aren't supposed to know
by bluemimosa
Summary: Prequel. Young Julie begins to question her life in Deluxe. Chapter 3: She'd always suspected her father would have preferred a son but it still stung to have it confirmed.
1. Chapter 1

**Fall**

Julie was having her weekly dinner with her father and she probably should have been paying attention to him. Some weeks that was the only time she saw him. (She didn't count the broadcasts.) Not that she really minded. Running Detroit Deluxe took a lot of time. Today he'd toured two factories and personally overseen the new entering class of cadets.

Only boys became cadets. She had asked her father about that once. His explanation involved the importance of strength and physical prowess and she let the matter drop. It made sense that you would want strong soldiers. _It still didn't explain why almost all of the KaneCo division heads were male or why Ms. Vargas was the only woman on the executive staff._ She pushed that thought to the back of her mind.

It would help if she had something else to think about. She didn't even have any good going-back-to-school stories this year. She'd just logged into the high school courses from her room. After 8th grade children stopped going to schools and started taking classes on the computer. It allowed for different educational paths and freed up the boys to join the cadet corps her father was still going on about.

It suddenly occurred to her that these new cadets would be her age. She started listening again. "We've got a great group this year. Cadet Chilton set a new record on the athletics course and Cadet Smith got the second highest score on the entrance exam ever."

"Marcus Smith?"

"Hmm, no, his first name starts with a T."

She went back to her food cubes. She hadn't known Marcus very well anyway.

* * *

**Winter**

She never thought she'd actually miss middle school. The computer courses might allow for more personalized instruction but they weren't as fun as being around other kids. They were also self-paced and apparently her pace was really fast. She could easily get through her lessons in an hour a day. At first she'd been concerned but when she mentioned it her father he just grinned and said it proved she was smart and that the other kids had just been holding her back. Only her father would think friends held you back. Not that was much of a problem now.

It turned out when she didn't see them every day most of her friends dropped off. Who knew forced socialization was actually good for something? Maybe if she had been more open with them they would have been closer. But there were always things to shy around. Even simple questions like "what do your parents do?" opened up potential minefields.

Thank goodness for Claire. Her best friend since kindergarten hadn't drifted away. Claire liked shopping and Julie liked the excuse to be around other people. They had a plan to explore every shopping district in Deluxe.

That morning they'd gone half way across the city to find to visit some boutiques that were almost exactly the same as the ones down the street from Claire's building. But it had still been fun and any time Julie spent with her friend was time she didn't have to spend in her apartment. She had been ecstatic when her father agreed she was old enough not to need a minder anymore but there was a hidden downside. She didn't really miss her last nanny, but the apartment seemed very empty without another person.

She started on her homework which didn't take long. History was practically just a Kane-co infomercial. There had to be more to the past than that. She thought back to her favorite nanny who used to tell her stories of old Detroit. She left abruptly one day while Julie was at school. It was so unlike Mrs. Wood to leave without even saying goodbye_. Maybe it hadn't been her choice._ But if it wasn't hers it could be only be one other person's and no good could come of following that train of thought.

Dinner that week consisted of her father eating in his office and projected into the dining room. She considered pointing out to him that she'd probably seen him more on a screen than in person but decided to save that guilt trip for another day.

He at least had the decency to apologize. The winterization of the city was underway and things were busy at work. Although she noted that he'd still found time to stop by the cadet academy this week.

He finally noticed she wasn't contributing to the conversation. "You're awful quiet. What's wrong Sweetie?"

_What do I say to that? "My life is too easy" seems ungrateful. "I'm lonely" seems like a sign of weakness. _

"Nothing"

* * *

**Spring**

The weather was warning up and Julie was both restless and bored. Her father was caught up in meetings, Claire was sick, and the closest thing she'd had to a conversation in three days was when she apologized after accidentally bumping into a man outside her building.

It was the kind of mood that made her want to something reckless and she had the perfect thing in mind. She knew where an entrance to Motorcity was supposed to be. There had been rumor in middle school that some older boys had snuck down there for the night. Unlike them she knew when the security details would be patrolling. It wouldn't be hard to get in, take a quick look around, and then get out.

Except it took longer to get there than she thought it would. And it was impossible to take just one quick look. There was too much to take in. It was loud and cluttered and exciting and crowded and colorful and different. There were different shapes and texture as if all everything had been made separately at a different time and by a different designer. Instead of the gentle background hum of machines and hushed voices there were a hundred different sounds. And yet it instead of being a cacophony it all came together in a crazy harmony.

The people all dressed like something out of the past. She noticed some of them were children. The clothes were a little worn but clean and the kids looked happy. Normal. In fact, so did the adults. They didn't look like social deviants. (At least most of them didn't.) Not the criminals, druggies and bottom dwellers her father said populated the lower levels. She got the impression she had been in more danger from the exposed wires in the tunnel on the way down than she was from the people in Motorcity.

That thought occupied her mind during the long walk and climb to Deluxe. She wanted to ask her father about it but had no idea how. "So yesterday when I was doing something incredibly dangerous and illegal I found out that maybe you were wrong about Motorcity" didn't seem like the best conversation starter_. Besides he probably already knew_. Something else she didn't want to examine too closely.

Sometimes there were so many things she wasn't thinking about she felt like her head would explode.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summer**

It was getting harder to keep her secret from Claire. They couldn't always go out to do things. Julie had already been to Claire's apartment several times. Ironically she liked hanging out there for the very same reason Claire didn't. It was full of people.

Claire had two parents and a younger sister she found annoying. Her family had lived in Detroit since before Deluxe so she even had cousins. One of the times Julie had been over was for Claire's Grandmother's birthday party. Julie was amazed. It was possible to have a whole room full of family. Claire had all these people who belonged to her. Julie just had a father a worked too much and dim memories of a mother.

She was patiently waiting to broach the subject at a dinner with her father. He was still talking about the cadets. Usually he'd have lost interest in them months ago. It'd gotten to the point she could even pick out names. Chilton came up an awful lot. At least it was putting her father in a good mood. When he paused to chew she made her move.

"So, Claire and I went to the pool at the athletic club today. Afterwards her hair was a wreck and since my apartment was closer we came back here to get fixed up." She said trying to make her voice sound like she thought this was a perfectly normal turn of events.

His eye was twitching. Not a good sign. She sped up. "It was in the middle of the day when even ordinary parents would be busy." Maybe guilt would help. "I know it's supposed to be a secret but it's getting to the point where it's more suspicious if I don't talk about my family. Orphans don't tend to live in the KaneCo tower district."

"We've gone over this. This is for your own safety." There was an edge to his voice.

"From _Claire_? I've known her practically my whole life. She's my best friend."

"For now. Friends can turn on you." He was referring to his old partner Jacob. Julie didn't know much about him. He had founded the company with her father, been best man at her parents wedding and then _something_ had happened. Her father never said what but he was still bitter about it.

"Claire wouldn't do that. She's loyal and she can keep a secret."

"You're still a child you know nothing about how the world works"

"but-"

He cut her off. "We are not having this conversation now. I want to enjoy dinner with my little girl."

_Fine. We'll have it again later. This is important. I'm not just going to give up._

* * *

**Fall**

She was tired of half knowing and guessing horrible things. It was insulting to be criticized for being too sheltered by the same person who did the sheltering. It was time to figure out what was really going on. She was going back to Motorcity. And this time she would actually work up the courage to talk to people.

She was past the outskirts and a playground with all sorts of equipment that looked fun if not exactly safe. It was still early and not many people were about. She ducked into the first place building that was open. It turned out to be a small drugstore with a lunch counter and some tables. She began to browse the shelves. Some of the things she had only seen in history vids. Then she saw something she recognized. It was a bottle of aspirin. The distinctive K was marked out but it was definitely from Deluxe. Maybe she wasn't the only person who snuck down here.

She didn't seem to be attracting any undue attention from the other customers. Good. She was starting to relax when she heard her father's voice behind her and nearly jumped out of her skin. He was at his most angry and sarcastic. It took her a terrifying split second to turn around register that it was just a vidscreen. One of the men sitting at the counter had noticed her reaction and was laughing at her so hard he almost fell off his stool.

"Leave her alone" said the waitress, "she's obviously a recent refugee of course she'd be scared of Kane."

Julie took some deep calming breathes. Maybe she should have done something about her clothes. And her reflexes. She sat down at the table to collect herself.

She was usually so good at compartmentalizing. When she was very young she used to pretend that her dad was just her dad and the man on the vidscreens was a stranger who happened to look like him. It made things easier. After all one couldn't acknowledge or expect special treatment from a stranger.

"Here you go honey." The waitress said putting a plate of breakfast down in front on her.

"Oh I didn't, I can't pay for this" Julie protested. She doubted they took KaneCo credits here.

"On the house, most of us were new once too."

She looked at the plate dubiously. It smelled wonderful, but the eggs looked slimy. Were they really supposed to be so yellow? She took a hesitant bite. She thought she knew the taste but it was so much more intense than flavored food cubes. And the bacon was crunchy. Who knew texture could make so much difference to food?

The food was so good and the waitress was so friendly that she began to feel guilty. And it wasn't just because she was getting a free meal under false pretenses.

* * *

**Winter**

It had taken months of logical reasoning, screaming fights and shameless begging but Julie had finally convinced her father to let her tell Claire. After he ran background checks on Claire's family and went over her school records Julie brought her by the office. The meeting went surprisingly well. Her father was at his most congenial, and Claire had immediately gone into full fangirl mode.

Claire was still gushing about it as Julie took her down to the entrance. She thought it was all so incredible. (Perhaps she hadn't read the fine print on the confidentially agreement.)

"This is, like, so cool. So do you know about new products and announcements before they come out?"

"Sometimes, but usually I just hear it on the broadcasts like everyone else."

He occasionally talked to her about work. Just bits and pieces but she was getting better at putting them together. She was starting to figure out things she wasn't supposed to know.

"Oh No" Claire gasped. "I just realized something. If your last name really isn't Ford then that monogramed necklace I got you for birthday last year was totes wrong."

Julie had to laugh at that. "That's what you're worried about? It's fine. It's not like I can use my real name in very many places."

"So what's it like having a famous father?"

Thankfully at that moment they reached the lobby and the presence of other people provided a good excuse for not answering. Julie waved goodbye to Claire and then returned to the private elevator with the last question still ringing in her ears.

What was it like? It was the bizarre experience of reading his biography for school and not finding even a hint that he had a family. It was realizing that he had probably bragged about his favorite cadet to more people than he'd told of her existence. It was wondering what it would be like if her father was a normal man. Who thinks their father is a great man at fifteen?

Anyway today was a victory. She'd brought her two lives together in one room and the world hadn't imploded. She'd managed to bring her Father around to her point of view.

He smiled at her as she came back to his office. "Claire seems like a nice girl, a model citizen of Deluxe and it good to know I can trust your taste in friends."

"Thanks, It was nice be able to have you be a part of my life" she replied.

He paused to consider something. "You know, you're almost old enough to get an internship at KaneCo. We could see each other almost every day."

_In an office. Full of other people. Pretending to be strangers. That won't be weird at all._

She looked at his eager face and relented. Maybe he missed her too.

"That sounds great Dad."

Besides seeing her father in a different setting might help her get to know him better.

* * *

**Author's note:** It's probably best not to speculate on where the bacon came from. But Motorcity has burgers, sushi and pepperoni on the pizzas so either someone's keeping mutated livestock or they've gotten really good with soy protein.

The best part about writing fanfiction? Rewatching the show for "research."


	3. Chapter 3

**Spring**

Julie's father had started talking about his work more often. She hoped it meant he saw her as more grown up. She just wished it were more interesting than an assembly line error at the bot factory. "The shift supervisor was, er, disciplined. And yesterday I visited the academy."

_So what did golden boy do this week? I think I'd actually rather hear more about the mining bots. _

Led his squad to victory in the war game competition, apparently. Julie began arranging her food cubes in a geometric pattern on her plate and tried not to feel jealous. She'd always suspected her father would have preferred a son but it still stung to have it confirmed.

"I'm thinking of fast tracking cadet Chilton into a command position. He's a little young but he has great leadership potential. He's skilled, he's loyal, and he has charisma. The other cadets already look to him." The pride was evident in his voice.

There were so many possible responses to this. "Last week you questioned whether I was old enough to be wearing makeup and you're willing to put a boy in my grade in charge of armed troops?" or "Remember when I was seven and you specifically told me I shouldn't draw attention to myself because it was safer that way?" or just throwing the plate of food cubes in his face and storming out. But she was trying to be mature so she settled for a non-comitial grunt.

When her father finally asked what she had been up to she mentioned that she had started studying for her pod license.

"Well, here's a tip. The maximum speed will be going down to 30 mph next week. And autopilot will now come on anytime there's congestion" he commented.

"What? Why?"

"There was a near miss last week in the industrial section."

"Couldn't you just enforce the speed in crowded areas like that?" she asked.

"This is too important to be left to the digression of the general public." He snapped.

The pod instructions already devoted far more space to safety features and overrides than anything that involved skill. The further simplification of the controls was disappointing in more ways than one. If her father treated everyone in the city like a child what hope did she have that he would ever treat her like an adult?

* * *

**Summer**

It was the latest in KaneCo technology and Julie was using it to turn Claire's hair bright pink. She'd found the holoprojector prototype lying around the last time she'd visited her Father's house. She'd noticed her father tended to lose interest in technology when it didn't work right. Fortunately she had more patience and more free time. It hadn't been that hard to modify.

Claire was less than impressed. "I want to stand out; I don't want to look weird."

"And of course there's a difference" Julie commented as she adjusted the color to turquoise.

"Standing out is like other people only a little better. Weird is just weird. And this color is even worse, it clashes with my clothes."

"You know they wear all sorts of different colors in Motorcity." Julie said absently as she tried something else.

"Eww. I thought we agreed that Motorcity was really dangerous and you weren't going back there again. Wait, this purple isn't so bad but can you tone it down a little?"

"Like that?"

"Perfect. Now how about you try doing something with your hair besides hiding behind it?"

"I don't hide behind my _hair._"

"Please, I'm your best friend and I have no idea if your ears are pierced because I've never seen them."

Julie pulled her hair back. "See ears, happy now?"

"Oooh, I know let's do a fishtail braid. Your hair is so long it would be perfect." Claire said coming to sit behind her. Julie sat very still. Her neck felt exposed and the new style was pulling on her scalp in odd ways but it was still somehow relaxing. Was this just something girls with mothers naturally knew how to do?

An emergency broadcast came on destroying her peaceful mood and making Claire accidentally jerk the hair she was holding. It was a fugitive alert urging anyone who saw Mike Chilton, former cadet, to immediately report him to KaneCo security forces. Suspect is considered dangerous, do not approach. Julie stared at the screen wide-eyed. Cadet Chilton? He was her father's favorite; he was supposed to be up for advancement this week. _What happened_?

It didn't take her long to find out. Two days later at dinner her father was still fuming. She barely had to ask any leading questions before he started going on about ingratitude and traitors. "He refused to go through with an important construction project because not all the families had moved out the area. He turned his back on Deluxe and all for the sake of some squatters." He said bitterly. She stiffened. There had people in the area? Families? _And her father knew_. There was no hope it was all a mistake. Another thing she hadn't wanted confirmed.

She quickly looked down at her plate to avoid eye contact. Her dinner sat in her stomach like a brick, her appetite was gone. It was like a twisted version of her childhood fantasy. She now knew far too much about the president of KaneCo and it had turned her father into a stranger.

* * *

**Fall**

Now she actually wanted answers but she still couldn't bring herself to ask her father. Deluxe had shifted from smothering to oppressive. It was like her life didn't fit anymore. Maybe it was time to find another one. So she went back to Motorcity. She blended in now. She was still wearing a regulation unitard but thanks to the modified holoprojector it didn't look like one.

Her elaborate cover story turned out to be completely unnecessary. No one asked. In fact people didn't tend to talk about their pasts at all. Motorcity was a place of second lives and second chances.

She had successfully bartered her small stockpile of KaneCo first aid supplies for a meal ticket. She suspected the store owner had lowballed her but that was okay. She would have given them away except that would have looked suspicious. She wanted to do _something_. Now she was heading for the restaurant corridor. She read about pizza once and she wanted to try it. Tonight seemed like a perfect time for new experiences.

But first she had to get across the parking lot. The way the brightly colored cars were tearing out of there it might be a few minutes. Still between the colors, the noise and the lights it was quiet the spectacle. A small purple car seemed to be in the lead. Then an orange racer pulled out in front. She sucked in her breathe. They were going to crash. There was no way pods would be allowed to get that close while a full speed. But the orange car accelerated and pulled away. Pods couldn't maneuver like that either. She laughed out loud. She really needed to stop underestimating Motorcity.

"They're amazing aren't they?" said a voice next to her. She nodded and turned her head to see a boy about her age. He looked familiar. The clothes were different and the thuggish look was absent but it was him.

"Hey, I'm Mike Chilton," he said.

"I recognize you from your wanted poster." She said. His expression fell.

_Nice one, Julie. Whatever happened to second chances?_

She had to salvage this somehow. "It's good that someone actually stood up for Motorcity." She said.

"Oh, I'm just getting started." He grinned.

_Dang, he really is charismatic._

She smiled back. "I'm Julie."

And for the first time she found herself feeling curious about what Mike Chilton would do next.

* * *

**Note on the timeline:** it's hard to tell how much time passed between episodes on the show but in Ride the Lightning Claire says it's July. Mike's one year anniversary comes up a few episodes later. And Mayhem Night is set on October 31st and the Burners have been together for at least a year since they all remember what Texas did last Halloween. Mike obviously had a busy few months there.

**Author's note:** I got the idea for this fic watching the finale and thinking "Wait did Kane even wait until the daughter he actually had was out of earshot before he started in on his you were like the son I never had tirade? Bad parenting there." This chapter comes closest to that original idea.


End file.
